Brief Description: Phill Gene McDonald (1941-1968), a native of West Virginia, moved to Greensboro as a teenager and was inducted into the US Army in 1967. As a private with the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam, McDonald was conspicuously brave in an action near Kontum City where he lost his life on June 7, 1968. For his heroism, McDonald was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1970. The collection concerns primarily events surrounding his death as well as memorials.
Materials include: ALSs from President Lyndon Johnson (1968), Stanley L. Resor, Secretary of the Army (1968), and Gov. Dan K. Moore (1968); telegrams concerning notification of McDonald’s death, disposition of the remains, personal effects, etc. (1968); photos of graveside services for McDonald (1968); an original letter from McDonald to his brother (Conwell?) (1968), written only a few weeks before his death, and copies of McDonald’s correspondence with his sister Phyillis (1968); a notebook kept by McDonald in Vietnam (1968); a certificate for the Congressional Medal of Honor signed by President Richard Nixon (1970); programs related to the Central Assembly of God Church, where McDonald was a member (ca. 1968); and a book on the Ft. Benning, Ga., Army Training Center where McDonald received his training (1967).